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Chelsea got themselves in a little bit of trouble in this group after losing twice to Basel, 2-1 at home and 1-0 on the road last round. The hosts are qualified to the next round, but they need a win today in order to be sure of topping the group. Chelsea is just 1 point in front of Basel and 2 points in front of Schalke, while Steaua Bucharest does not have anything left to fight for, the romanians only having three points. Previously in group E Chelsea won 4-0 against today`s opponents in Bucharest.
The home side suffered a real blow to their Premier League title chances after losing at Stoke last round. It was not such a big surprise, as Chelsea often struggled on the road this season, but on Stamford Bridge Mourinho`s side looked like a top-class side pretty often so far. Aside from that shock 1-2 defeat to Basel, Chelsea has 7 wins and 1 draw at home in all competitions, with a goal difference of 20-6. Chelsea will be eager to avenge that Stoke defeat today while also booking the first place in the group in the process.
Steaua Bucharest is in a really bad spot at the moment. After playing some great football last year, Steaua lost key players Chiriches and Rusescu and the results steadily declined to the point that Steaua can not beat anybody anymore at the moment. Aside for a win in the Romanian Cup, Steaua has 6 consecutive draws, 4 of them in the Romanian League, 2 of them against relegation candidates. More so, Steaua benefited from some flagrant help from the referees to escape with 3 of the 4 draws and the level of play was extremely poor from the champions. In Champions League they played better lately after starting with two 0-7 aggregate defeats against Schalke and Chelsea. The romanians managed to draw the last three games, twice with Basel and once with Schalke and they have three points, with a 2-9 goal difference. However they can`t climb out of the last spot in the Group E standings and overall their form is wretched at the moment. Coach Reghencampf is continuously accusing the fact that the team is very tired for the last 2-3 weeks.
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Team news & lineups
Chelsea has everyone ready to go for today except long-term injury van Ginkel. Mourinho might rotate the squad a little bit but it`s not yet known who exactly will get to play. Steaua will miss their captain and their most important player, defensive midfielder Bourceanu. Fellow defensive midfielder Filip (1st substitute) will also miss out, creating some serious problems in that zone, especially that the other regular DM (Pintilii) is having all kinds of fitness problems lately. The lineup for Steaua seems locked in stone, Chelsea might make 2-3 changes to the probable first 11 shown below.
Chelsea: Cech – Cole, Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic – Mikel, Lampard – De Bruyne, Hazard, Mata – Eto’o
Steaua: Tatarusanu – Latovlevici, Szukala, Gardos, Prepelita – Pintilii, Neagu – Chipciu, Tanase, Popa – Piovaccari
These two sides met three times in the last 9 months. In the Europa League last season Steaua won 1-0 at home before losing 3-1 on the road. It was a meeting between a much stronger Steaua side and a weaker Chelsea with Benitez. Previously in this Champions League group Chelsea easily won 4-0 in Bucharest.
Steaua is struggling mightly at the moment and to their misfortune, they will meet a motivated Chelsea team. Chelsea will look both to avenge the Stoke loss and to gain the first place in the group and will be confident of adding to Steaua`s misery of 22 consecutive winless matches in Champions League. I can see the hosts easily dominating possession and creating loads of chances against an inferior, out of sorts team, while the visitors might have 1-2 opportunities on the break. The problems in the defensive midfield area will hurt the romanians, as that was their strongest point. Huge quality difference here, and with Steaua in very bad form, with important missings and with Chelsea motivated I can`t look past a handicap win for the home team. My pick is Chelsea to cover the 1,75 asian handicap, I reckon it is a safe choice and I will invest maximum stakes. Honestly I think this has the makings of one of those classic Champions League blowouts with Steaua`s form and tiredness, but on the other hand I can see Chelsea not pushing too much after getting a secure advantage, so this is why I am choosing a little bit smaller handicap. Chelsea – Steaua Bucharest 4-0.
Pick: Chelsea (-1,75 Asian Handicap)
Odds: 1.81 @ Ladbrokes
Stake: 10
Possible profit: 8.10
Event date: 11 December
Editor Facts
- Tipster Rostick is 8 for 11 in picks involving Steaua this season.
I went with Chelsea -2.5, should be easy money!
typical chelsea garbage team, 100 shots on goal 1 own goal decides the match. Go home chelsea you’re drunk!
really disappointed in Chelsea, the second half was simply sad to watch with all those back passes. I was thinking they would stop at 2-0 or 3-0 but if they hadn`t got that early goal I think they would have even played for the 0-0 draw, that`s how unmotivated they were. football keeps disappointing me, I expected something else from an english team as I thought England and Germany are the last countries in which real football is played.
Well unfortunately not all teams can be as professional as Barcelona for example. They crushed Celtic even without many key players, and Celtic is a much stronger team than Steaua. Some teams don’t respect themselves anymore …